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It is “better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil” the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Pet. 3:17. But his writing on suffering must have been hard for the Christians of that time to swallow. Peter probably wrote from Rome in 67 AD, at the height of the persecution against Christians. About three years earlier, Emperor Nero had burned the city of Rome so that he “could destroy the ramshackle buildings (and) erect marble palaces and other monuments” to his name. The people were so “incensed, they were ready to revolt and overthrow him”, writes Ray Stedman in his book “The Message of 1 Peter”. So, Nero looked around for a scapegoat and found it in a group called Christians: “Rumours were flying around Rome that they were cannibals because they talked about getting together in their houses, drinking someone’s blood and eating his body”, among other things. Stedman adds: “It was during this time that Christians were dipped in tar and burned as torches to light the gardens of Nero when he threw an outdoor party. They were thrown to the lions; they were tied up in leather bags and thrown into water so that when the leather bags shrank, (they) were squeezed to death.” How horrible!

Against such fiery trials for the Christians during Peter’s days, most of us here know little of such persecution. Honestly, we do not like to suffer. Yet, Peter calls us to “rejoice” when we do so. Higher-order suffering – only that for the Gospel’s sake and not for our own folly – is if we are maltreated and vexed or tormented (all extensions from the Greek root word for “suffering”) as a direct result of our standing up as Christians. Say, (based on 1 Pet 4:14, 16), we are taunted as “holy Joes” for wanting to keep sex to marriage, insulted as “spineless” if we do not want to slander a co-worker or get called “stupid” for not cutting corners in business. What reason can there be for our suffering for Christ’s sake? The reason – 1 Pet. 3:18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” If we follow this example, our suffering may cause genuine seekers to ask why we behave the way we do in the face of injustice. Then, “prepared to give an answer to everyone” (v15), we may present with respect, Jesus Christ, the hope within.